"Victory or Death" - Christmas Day 1776
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"Victory or Death" - Christmas Day 1776
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By George F. Smith On the day after Christmas, 1776, a few Americans gave us the first installment of a gift we have all but lost. After the makeshift American army under George Washington's command ousted the redcoats from Boston in early 1776, the British moved to New York City, where they launched an invasion in August. Washington met them head-on and suffered devastating defeats, and survived only by fleeing from the enemy. By the time he escaped across the Delaware River into Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Washington had only 3,000 of his original 20,000 troops. Congress, seeing the army in retreat only 12 miles from where they sat, gave Washington dictatorial powers and escaped to Baltimore, 110 miles to the south. With winter moving in, Washington set up headquarters on the west side of the Delaware. British commander William Howe made plans to go into winter quarters in New York, leaving his men spread over numerous New Jersey outposts, ready to march at a moment's notice. He admitted, though, that the chain of outposts was too extensive. Lord Charles Cornwallis, Howe's field commander, decided to garrison the outposts with Hessian mercenaries and send the British troops back to New York. He left command of New Jersey in the hands of the cocky and thoroughly mediocre General James Grant. In the 100-house village of Trenton, the outpost closest to Washington, the 1,600 Hessians were under command of Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall, a hard-drinking gambler whose troops had a reputation for plunder and rape. Once encamped, they proceeded to earn their reputation. Hessian brutality swung many New Jersey neutrals to the American cause. [1] Making excellent use of spies, Washington led the British to believe his condition was completely hopeless. Thus, when Rall complained to General Grant that his position was too much exposed, Grant dismissed it as ludicrous, since Washington's troops were in rags and starving. Besides, after December 31 Washington would not even have an army, since the term of service would expire for most of his men. Knowing he needed a victory to keep the American cause alive, Washington decided to attack Trenton while the Hessians slept off the effects of their Christmas celebration. On a scrap of paper he scribbled "Victory or Death," the watchword for the attack. Earlier that month Tom Paine had written a new essay that Washington ordered read to his troops on Christmas Day. As the men prepared to climb aboard the boats and cross the Delaware, with a winter storm kicking up, they heard Paine's opening words: "These are the times that try men's souls." They would not forget them. It took fourteen hours to transport men, horses, and artillery across the river in an unrelenting sleet storm. Meanwhile, in Trenton, Rall had eaten a hearty meal and retired for a game of cards with a few of his aides and his host, a man named Abraham Hunt. Shortly after midnight a shivering Loyalist from Bucks County showed up at the door with a written message, handing it to a servant. Rall refused to be disturbed and tucked the note into his waistcoat pocket without reading it. At 4:00 a.m. the American troops began their ten-mile march to Trenton along River Road. Washington, from his tall chestnut horse, urged his men to keep moving and stay with their officers. Two men stopped to rest -- and froze to death. When they arrived at Trenton at 8:00 a.m. Washington ordered the men to storm the town. As they fell upon the enemy, many of them shouted, "This is the time to try men's souls!" [2] With their gunpowder soaked and useless, they relied on the bayonet to roust the Hessians out of the houses. Sodden from the previous night's celebrations, Hessians threw on their coats and tried to form ranks in the streets. As they did, they were cut down by Henry Knox's six-pounders firing from the ends of Trenton's two main streets. Rall finally broke from the Hunt house, jumped on his horse and galloped toward his regiment, who were being showered with grapeshot on King Street. As he tried unsuccessfully to organize a bayonet charge, he was hit twice and assisted into a Methodist Church. While he lay dying, he read the note tucked in his pocket: the American army was marching on Trenton. Minutes later the Hessians surrendered. The Americans had suffered four casualties to the two hundred enemy killed or wounded. It took them twelve hours to recross the Delaware with captured weapons, supplies, and 948 prisoners. When the Continental troops finally collapsed into their tents, they had gone forty-eight hours without food, almost as long without sleep, and had marched twenty-five miles in freezing weather. They also won a critical victory for independence. While no war is good, defensive wars are sometimes necessary. Our forefathers knew this. That's why some of them went marching, 226 years ago.
1. Randall, Willard Sterne, George Washington: A Life, Owl Books, Henry Holt & Company, New York, 1998, p. 321. 2. Rothbard, Murray N., Conceived in Liberty, Vol. IV, Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama, 1999, pp. 198-199. Next in State
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Other Interesting Sites
Ron Paul's Classics of Libertarian Thought Greenspan's 1966 "Gold and Economic Freedom"
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